Month: February 2009

It’s Thursday February 26th and I am at home having just put Sydney down for the evening. Maureen is in DC visiting some friends and I have Sydney all to myself for the next three days. It should be interesting. We’re releasing Brandy Angel’s Share this weekend and celebrating Carnevale on Saturday night in a sort of day night double header for Port Brewing. Thank God for Grandparents! Still, church on Sunday is probably going to hurt…

I haven’t had a beer all day (chasing an almost three year old around will do that to me). So, I just popped the cork on a 375 ml bottle of Bourbon Angel’s Share. This dates back to our last release in March of 2008. And by pop, I truly mean POP! You see, when we packaged this last batch of Angel’s Share, we went ahead and Krausened the batch with a freshly fermenting batch of Angel’s Share. It was fortuitous to say the least that we had a new batch going at the same time we were packaging the old one. It was also the first time we had primed our bottles this way.

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best way to carbonate the Bourbon Angel’s Share as the Krausening batch fermented out at a lower terminal gravity causing our bottles to carbonate at a more elevated level than perhaps we would like. The bottle I just opened is gassier than the Blue Hairs at Hometown Buffet at 4:30 on a Tuesday. But I’m okay with that (our beer not the blue hairs)!

The good news in all of this is that the newest batch of Brandy Angel’s Share is more alcoholic than in years past due to this lower terminal gravity. But it also means that we’re now entering interesting waters. On Saturday, we will release our third batch of Brandy Angel’s Share and later in March we will release our second Bourbon Angel’s share as well. Welcome my friends to the waters of unpredictable barrel aged beer versions from year to year.

As a producer, I’ve come to the realization that we’re dealing with a living fire breathing monster when it comes to barrel aged beers. In some ways, they are liquid crapshoots. Go ask a winemaker and see if they don’t nod their head in silent agreement. This is one of the reasons that they specialize in blending. It affords better consistency. But, no matter how hard we work towards a consistent barrel aged beer, there are roadblocks at every turn. Much of this has to do with barrel procurement and duration from spirit dump to barrel refilling. Sometimes, it’s out of our control.

As such, I’m beginning to think of myself as a Cal Trans worker who tends to the roads in our glorious state. Sometimes, the roads they work require little assistance. These freshly poured asphalt highways, are our smooth epic batches of beers. Other times, they get called out to massage the road back into shape filling in pot-holes. These seem to be batches that can be saved but need tweaking. This is where a great beer can emerge from a barrel but doesn’t always. And lastly, there are those times when they are called out for long term issues. This would be akin to fixing sinkholes in the ground. These are batches of beer that once showed promise and now may never be restored to their former glory. These are the batches of beer that burn consumers the most.

I am reminded of this as I am sitting here half way through my glass of Angel’s Share. I’m enjoying the bottle but not as much as I do the Brandy Barrel version of this beer and in particular the original batch from 2006. What is perhaps most interesting to me is that the business of beer more or less sells beer on fixed pricing structures. This is not always the case in the wine business where vintages are celebrated, lauded and command differentiation of pricing from year to year.

I wonder as more and more breweries commit their resources, energy and space to barrel aging if this won’t be the direction the industry moves in. I’m not advocating it, merely pointing out that we have yet to see this even though there is so much variation in the barrel aging of beer. It seems that almost every brewery in America now has a bourbon barrel or four in their breweries. And, there seems to be a fixed pricing structure relative to barrel aged beers that doesn’t celebrate the best of the best. In this way, mediocrity is rewarded. Worked for the wine business. But do we really need 280 buttery chardonnays from California?

It’s tough this barrel aged thing, a lot like drinking flabby Chardonay. And I would know. Before summer, we’ll have over 500 oak barrels worth of beer aging at the brewery. Funny thing this barrel aged beer trend. When you talk to wineries, you almost never hear a vintner say “ Yep, we just added our 987th barrel to the facility…” But, in a space race of sorts, we almost HAVE to tell the world how much beer we’re currently aging in oak barrels. We’re guilty of it. Why? Well, it’s sexy for one. But mostly, it’s a point of differentiation. Or at least it used to be.

So tomorrow, we’re going to release our third bottling of Brandy Barrel Angel’s Share. It’s different than the first two. It more closely resembles batch one than two. It shows the promise of a better tomorrow. What does that mean to a beer drinker? Not much other than my glass is empty and there’s a ton of bottles going on sale this Saturday. Let’s hope we’ve done our job and the road less traveled isn’t full of potholes.

It’s Saturday. We’re in the midst of a very busy holiday weekend. Today is the feast of St. Valentines Day and lovers everywhere are celebrating. Some are going the traditional route of flowers and others may lean towards the sweet side of things. Me, I’m leaning towards Red Poppy. I had a couple of these last night and survived Friday the 13th. And by survived, I mean that in the best possible way.

Last night was one of the craziest Friday nights I have been associated with at Port Brewing since we opened our doors nearly three years ago. Walking around the brewery last night, you could just tell it was going to be one of those nights. We were standing room only packed at 5 O’clock which should have been the first clue. There are times at the brewery when we “know” we’re going to be busy and we can prepare for the onslought. Last night sort of caught us by surprise.

It shouldn’t have. Freaks unite and come out of the wood work during full moons, holiday weekends and apparently on Friday the 13ths. Sage just informed me, we have another one of these on tap in March. Can’t effing wait. Lost in the drama that was last night was a good story. An acquiantence, who I worked in the print shop at NAU, John Torok, happened to come into the brewery last night. I hadn’t seen John since he left Flagstaff in 1995. And then BLAM, just like a thundering Batman Punch, we was seated at our bar.

John was there during my formative years when I was first researching beer and exploring craft brewed beers. It stuck with me one day when he proclaimed that I was in the midst of drinking “Champagne and Caviar” expensive beers on a college budget. He didn’t know too many students who spent the kind of money that I did on beer while studying. But, that comment has stayed with me all these years. It was great to see him last night and reminisce about printing and beer.

I also learned that John has his own business and is pursuing his own passions. About five years ago, he founded a company in Vista, CA. called HATCH that specializes in high end fly fishing reels. Our stories shared some parallels as we have both chosen to engage our lifestyles by turning hobbies into our craft. I’m looking forward to following the company as they are growing at epic rates and have found their niche. I think it’s pretty cool that two guys who shared the pressroom at Reprographics on the campus of Norther Arizona University have ended up chasing life on their own terms here in San Diego.

Last night was a crazy night. We had freaks, geeks and just plum weird things happen at the brewery. Old friends stopped by as well which made it marginally better. I for one am not looking forward to March 13th but I will do so with bit of trepidation and nervous hope that once a quarter is enough for the strange peeps of the brewery to come out and visit us. The way I look at it, there are 30 breweries in this town. Maybe they’ll grace them with their presence thus sparing us next month. Then again, we’re The Lost Abbey- For Sinners and Saints Alike. Maybe I should finally install those direct lines to heaven and hell so that when the time comes next month, I can contact the keeper of the lost soul who’s wandered into our brewery looking for refuge?

And yes, I’m serious about the phone line thing. Either that, or we’re gonna need a bigger boat… I wonder what sort of charges we could expect to call long distance to the Underworld? After last night, I’ve begun saving every penny I can around here. We’re going to need it. I swear. Sometimes being in charge isn’t as cool as most make it out to be.